NetScout Systems (Nasdaq: NTCT) came in right in line with the Street's expectations last quarter, but investors are hoping that it will beat them this quarter. The company will unveil its latest earnings Thursday. NetScout Systems designs, develops, manufactures, markets, sells and supports unified service delivery management, service assurance, and application and network performance management solutions.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or hold?: Analysts strongly back NetScout Systems, with seven of 12 rating it a buy and the remainder rating it a hold. Analysts like NetScout Systems better than competitor Blue Coat Systems overall. While analysts still rate the stock a moderate buy, they are a little more optimistic about it compared with three months ago.
  • Revenue forecasts: On average, analysts predict $63.1 million in revenue this quarter. That would represent a decline of 5.7% from the year-ago quarter.
  • Wall Street earnings expectations: The average analyst estimate is earnings of $0.09 per share. Estimates range from $0.07 to $0.11.

What our community says:
CAPS All-Stars are solidly behind the stock, with 97.3% awarding it an "outperform" rating. The community at large backs the All-Stars, with 91.1% granting it a rating of "outperform." Fools are keen on NetScout Systems, though the message boards have been quiet lately with only 53 posts in the past 30 days. Despite the majority sentiment in favor of NetScout Systems, the stock has a middling CAPS rating of three out of five stars.

Management:
NetScout Systems' profit has risen year over year by an average of 33.9%. Revenue has now gone up for three straight quarters.

Now let's look at how efficient management is at running the business. Traditionally, margins represent the efficiency with which companies capture portions of sales dollars. The following table shows gross, operating, and net margins over the past four quarters.

Quarter

Q4

Q3

Q2

Q1

Gross Margin

79.0%

78.9%

79.4%

78.2%

Operating Margin

21.7%

21.3%

19.2%

17.3%

Net Margin

13.8%

14.5%

11.9%

10.7%

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